Navy pulls out wreckage of missing trainee aircraft from Chandil dam

Navy recovers wreckage of missing aircraft from Chandil dam

Seraikela Kharsawan: The Indian Navy has recovered the wreckage of the Cessna 152 trainer aircraft from Chandil reservoir in Jharkhand's Seraikela Kharsawan district. The wreckage of the training aircraft that went missing on August 20 was recovered on Monday.

A 5-day long search operation 
A 20-member diving and hydrographic survey team of Eastern Naval Command ran a 5-day long search and rescue operation to successfully recover the debris of the aircraft.

Spokesperson of Indian Navy wrote
Taking it to a social media post on X, the spokesperson of Indian Navy wrote, "In a #SearchandRescue operation lasting 5 days, #IndianNavy's 20 member Diving & Hydrographic Survey Team from #EasternNavalCommand operating in inclement weather conditions, were able to successfully #Salvage the wreckage of the Cessna 152 trainer aircraft at #ChandilReservoir in Seraikela Kharsawan district of #Jharkhand on #26Aug24. @IN_HQENC ."

Visuals from the spot

Trainee pilot bodies recovered
According to Seraikela Kharsawan district information and public relations department, bodies of trainee pilot Subhrodeep Dutta, and Captain Jeet Shatru Anand were recovered from Chandil dam after an extensive search operation by Indian Navi and NDRF on Thursday, August 22.

The Indian Navy team began the search operation in the Chandil dam around 10 a.m. on Monday after locating the Cessna-152 aircraft a day earlier, the official said.

Navy personnel pulled out the aircraft's wreckage on Monday night, using a balloon to lift it from a depth of 15-18 meters in the dam. The aircraft had crashed into the reservoir shortly after taking off from Sonari Aerodrome.

Earlier on August 20, it was reported that a training aircraft in Jamshedpur went missing after it took off from the Sonari airport.

As soon as the information was received, the search operations were launched in the Saraikela district while the information was floated to the neighbouring district Purulia in West Bengal. 

The aircraft belonged to the private aviation company Alchemist Aviation Private Limited.(with Agency inputs)